Feeding - variation or strict regime?

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Nepthaphis

Nepthaphis

Member Since 2014
Hi :)

I'm still very new to this as our kitty Largo was just diagnosed in the beginning of the month. He's now on Vetsulin, 2 IU twice daily and is eating RC Diabetic - dry and wet food.
After reading up on cat nutrition I am realizing that I really need to switch my kitties to a good quality wet food as soon as I get the home testing of Largo down to pat.

Before Largo got diabetes, our kitties were fed veterinarian grade dry food (which I've now realized is not at all a quality-stamp) and one bag of general brand wet food per day - we used to by variety packs of things like Felix (called Pussy in Norway..), Whiskas etc. They generally love most types of wet food and all kinds of meat both raw and cooked, so eventually switching them totally over to all wet food should not be a problem once I find the right food.

My question however is this: Do you excusively feed one variety/brand of food or do you feed your kitty a larger variety of brands?

And if you feed only one brand, do you just feed one specific variety of that brand? For example, if you feed Ziwi Peak, do you feed only the Game and Fish type?

It might be just a human thing, but I worry my kittes will get tired of eating the same food all the time... :)
 
..and we know how our kitties get tired of the same foods over and over again.

I don't think it matters what variety of food you feed as long as it is lower than 10% carbs (as fed values) and your cat likes it. I don't like bi-products or fish or veggies to be in my cat's food so my sources are limited but I make sure they get a variety. When I switched to better foods I went through cans and cans of food until they settled on what they liked. Phew... that was rough on the pocket and my nerves but we got down to raw and two canned foods.

You have won the first and biggest battle when you remove the dry. I always fed my kitties canned meals with dry in between until I educated myself on the dangers of dry food and took it up. My cats missed it but were fine on the canned food only. I just have to feed three times a day instead of two. I was more fortunate in that my cats were used to canned so the dry could be removed easily. I feel bad for those that have dry-food only addicts. It is a difficult transition for them but it can and must be done.

So a long answer to your question but in summary - no, I don't think you need to stick to one brand.
 
Thank you so much RobinCot :)

Our diabetic kitty Largo will basically eat anything, but our other cat My is more picky. And it would just make life simpler if we could give them the same types of food :)
 
Most of my cats would be fed the same food. The only thing that I changed is which flavor I fed them for each meal. The only one that was fed a different food was Witn. I had her on Friskies Special Diet canned foods because she also had CRF.
 
Hi Lisa and Withn :)

Thanks! That's actually what I meant, but I just didn't express myself in a sensible way... - sorry! :razz:
The same food but different flavours!
 
Nepthaphis said:
My question however is this: Do you excusively feed one variety/brand of food or do you feed your kitty a larger variety of brands?

And if you feed only one brand, do you just feed one specific variety of that brand? For example, if you feed Ziwi Peak, do you feed only the Game and Fish type?
Click to expand...

Michelangelo is allergic to red meats so it really limits our choices. I also try to feed fish only once a week (actually, it's more like once a month now, if even that). On top of that, Mikey is SUPER carb sensitive so I have to stick to foods with 5-6% carbs or less. Plus, he was diagnosed at 6 months old, so I made sure to stick with higher protein foods, which he seems to do better on anyway. :YMSIGH: As I said, we're really limited. :roll:

The "regular" food in our house is the Friskies Special Diet Turkey and Giblets. I then supplement that with either Tiki Cat Chicken and Egg or Weruva Chicken Frick 'a Zee (both are too expensive for me to feed exclusively). I also use the Tiki Cat or Weruva when Mikey is running higher numbers or I gave him a suspected fur shot since they're lower carb than the Friskies SD. Or, when I'm the one tired of feeding them the same thing. :lol:
Nepthaphis said:
It might be just a human thing, but I worry my kittes will get tired of eating the same food all the time... :)
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When they're tired of their food, I trick them into thinking it's "new" food by sprinkling some parmesan cheese on top. It works every time. :thumbup
 
Hey KPassa :)

Thank you so much for your insight!

Parmesan - neat trick! I'll have to remember that! :-D :lol:

I'm planning to try Bozita wet food (http://www.bozita.com/) for my kitties - there are quite a few varieties available from online pet stores here in Norway.
I've just ordered one of each flavor excluding the ones with fish/shellfish, and will try them out on my finicky kitty My first.

As soon as we get the hang of home testing Largo, we'll be switching him to all wet food too - right now we're easing him into getting ready... Thankfully he's a very food-motivated kind of guy, so I've been holding him in my lap and fiddling with his ears in our 'designated testing spot' and rewarding him with little pieces of freeze dried brisket. He doesn't mind at all! We'll see what he thinks about having his ear pricked however... @-)
 
Nepthaphis said:
As soon as we get the hang of home testing Largo, we'll be switching him to all wet food too - right now we're easing him into getting ready... Thankfully he's a very food-motivated kind of guy, so I've been holding him in my lap and fiddling with his ears in our 'designated testing spot' and rewarding him with little pieces of freeze dried brisket. He doesn't mind at all! We'll see what he thinks about having his ear pricked however... @-)
Click to expand...

I had to do that with my Michelangelo. It took me a week before I even got one successful test in! Now, I can test literally in my sleep without either of us waking up. :lol:
 
I remember when I was trying to switch my dry food addict Wink from dry to wet food. I had a smorgasbord of food selections out for his review, trying to find something he liked. Once I found his favorite flavor, Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblet, I still tried to offer little bits of other flavors. I was concerned that he would decide he didn't like the Turkey and Giblet and refuse to eat it. Never happened, but I worried anyway. It's so nice to have a selection of flavors for our kitties to chose from. Variety is the spice of life.

If you liked the parmesan cheese idea, check out this Transitioning Dry Food Addicts document, by vet Dr. Lisa Pierson. Some of those ideas listed also work for picky eaters.
 
Thanks! :) :)

I hope to try the first acutal testing tonight, but I'm not totally sure he'll let me :)
At least he seems to be quite perky and happy today!
 
I feed a variety of flavors and a couple brands. It seems like I mostly stick with Merrick now, but also feed some Weruva and Tiki. I alternate between 10 flavors and its set. I have Hidey's diabetes diet controlled and he has to eat about every 4-5 hours so I have 2 menus for my cats lol Theres day 1 & day 2 and each day has 5 different flavors. I figure I would get sick of the same thing, why should I expect anything different from them LOL
 
Thanks Dirtybirdsoaps :)

My plan is to do something similar - find a good brand of wet food with a consistent carb/protein/water count and server various flavours of that. We've already spoiled our kitties over many years feeding them a large variety of wet food flavours :)
 
Hi Deb & Wink :)

I realize I've been blessed with a patient and very good natured cat - even more so than I already knew! I actually got both blood and test results with a minimum of stress the very first time I tried testing him for real! I'd picked up a lot of helpful tips here and had watched several YouTube videos to prepare myself, and managed to test Largo while he was sleepy and cuddling next to me on the couch on Saturday night. He didn't mind at all!

Heartened by my success I tried testing him again before breakfast and insulin yesterday, but then he was just too hungry and even though he was patient at first I could not get any blood and after he'd let me prick him three times with poor results (poor little baby) he got too squirmy and there was no way I could get him to sit still. I did manage to test him successfully two times during the day however. Tried again before dinner and insulin last night - same story - squirmy and hungry kitty with zero patience.

But then, this morning even though he was hungry and a bit squirmy again, I did manage to successfully test him - much to my delight! I think we will eventually get the hang of this :)


The sad thing is that his numbers stay high - every thime I've tested they've been in the mid-twenties mmol/L where ideally they should be between 4 and 14 :( But he's not been on insulin for more than a couple of weeks and he's on his initial dose. Also we've now started switching to only wet food, so hopefully that should improve things.

I'll keep working on the blood testing this week and hopefully we'll both be comfortable enough with the process come the weekend that I can try for a full 12-hour blood curve :)
 
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